got my t500, thoughts/impressions if anyone cares

my specs:
t9400 2.5ghz
ati 3650
3gb ddr3
1680x1050 screen
dvd burner
9cell
webcam
320gb 5200rpm harddrive (hitachi model)
home premium vista
Paid: $1,689.80 before tax+shipping


i have never owned a thinkpad before. The other laptop i've owned is a dell i8600. Before i bought the t500, i had bought a latitude e6500 from dell. It had 3 defects that made me return it on general principle: dvd burner didn't work, sound crackled, and trackpad skipped. these are documented on the forums so they weren't exactly isolated to me.

so now i have a t500.

keyboard flex: it's there, but it doesn't bother me. I am a light typer though, meaning i don't press hard on the keys. The flex is there only if you're pressing hard. It is indeed there though, but not any more than your average laptop (or my old i8600 anyway). i don't think the flex problem is an issue unless you're a keyboard freak or a heavy typer.

screen: one of my main concerns when buying. I can't figure out what kind of panel i have, but first impressions are satisfaction. I'm not overly impressed, but the screen is bright, and there is minimal backlight bleeding and grain. In short, it is not a "WOW", it is more like, "well, i've seen WAY worse on a laptop." Btw, it is a matte screen.

performance: pretty clean from the factory software wise. Definitely not as bad as a dell. I did have to do about 10minutes of uninstalling though, which was mainly the office 2007 trial and roxio.

Gaming performance with the ati card was very impressive. first thing i did was load crysis and to my surprise it ran great at low settings and 1280x800. I have not tried pushing the settings higher yet, but i suspect there still is room for some medium level graphics. for comparison, it runs a lot better than my desktop with a 2.7ghz c2d and 8600gt.

the hybrid graphics seems to work on its own.. i have yet to find an option to switch between intel and ati graphics.

overall: build quality is excellent. it doesn't feel quite as solid as the e6500 but it is also feels a lot lighter/less bulky, even with the 9cell (my e6500 had a 6cell and still felt heavier/bulkier). the e6500 used more of a metal exterior whereas the t500 is the thinkpad plastic type exterior which is actually preferable imo since there are no smudges (not only that.. in general it just feels better on the hands).

things to check out:
my lcd panel manufacturer
whether my ati card has ddr3 ram
if the displayport passes digital audio (should know soon.. i have a feeling it does from looking at the vista sound control panel)

overall, very glad i went with the t500 over the e6500! only thing i can say i miss is the e6500's LED screen.

i wish i could show the keyboard flex in a photo. if people are really interested i could try posting a video of the flex. for reference, behind the laptop is a 24" lcd.

 

thats a nice laptop =D i wouldnt mind seeing a video of the extent of its flexing rumor to justify me throwing out more cash on a keyboard replacement if i get this laptop -.-
thanks for the input

 

Thanks for the quick review.

 

A small video would be great thanks for sharing your impressions with us.

 

I just got my T500 yesterday also and for the most part agree with everything. I have an older T41 from the IBM days, then went to a Dell and am now back to this T500. For anybody coming from an older T (original IBM series) build quality is definitely not the same. Just pushing down on various parts of the upper trim, it moves everywhere. Not an issue and doesn't bother me at all, just mentioning it for those that are expecting the older tank like models.

One thing that I didn't think would bother me but does slightly now are the fact that all the ports are on the left,front, or right sides. Only power on the back. Ethernet plugging in from the left side? A mouse wireless usb stick also sticking out from the left side. They should have put the ethernet, modem and at least one or two USBs on the back.

Also, I purchased an extra power adapter for hitting the road quicker. I purchased the slightly higher wattage one since the website made it seem like that one was standard. But in the end, the notebook actually came packaged with the smaller one.

I purchased with Vista downgrade to XP. Came with XP installed and NO Vista media, just a Vista key on the bottom of the notebook. Called Lenovo. They do not include ANY vista media. Finally got them to mail me vista media.

At boot time, the task list of processes was so looonnngg, even resizing task manager to the full height of the screen, I couldn't see them all. Openning msconfig, the startup list was even so long it didn't fit on the screen. Absolutely absurd all this junk that comes preinstalled AND prestarted.